Technology miixed with people focus permeate the CEO's presentations to analysts

Moreover, a store manager once contacted me personally after I left an online review about one store. I was impressed, and came back many times.

10:59 am November 1, 2012

MS wrote:

As Red Robin continues to struggle with relevance, Laping will have his work cut out as Red Robin continues to downgrade food quality with smaller burgers, less expensive wings and steak frys that are now missing their consistency from years ago. CIO's cant transform poor quality food into great!

12:58 pm November 1, 2012

Batman wrote:

I applaud Chris's efforts to utilize technology to get closer to the customer, improve the productivity and satisfaction of employees, drive process quality improvements and help enable business transformation. What's not to like?

5:27 pm November 1, 2012

theairdog wrote:

Puke!

RR had a whole suite of legacy .Net apps and a preliminary Enterprise library already written when Laping took over. Laping hired a bunch of Java cronies he knew from previous jobs, spent a boatload of money getting nothing done with them, and then laid off all the IT department oldsters because of the budget crisis he started. People that had worked there for 10 and 15 years were canned.

The reason why Laping decided on a Java approach? It was "free".

7:12 pm November 2, 2012

The Truth wrote:

Allow me to translate this into a truthful article for everyone. Thank you.

* 'At Red Robin Gourmet Burgers , the people who work for CIO Chris Laping are known as "the ninjas."'

Translation: The people who work for CIO Chris Laping are also known as "the ghosts", because they leave as fast as they come in. The turnover rate in IT is absolutely terrible under Chris. Nobody wants to work for this liar. Those who do stay, do so because they could not get a job anywhere else (due to lack of actual skill), they are imprisoned (hint: work visas), or they are important enough due to their knowledge of proprietary systems that they are dug in like an Alabama tick. In any case, they all have no choice but to nurture Chris's gigantic ego in order to stay in his good graces and not get fired. How great is it to come to work every day with a huge fake smile on your face?

* 'They are the people who solve problems, institute change and get things done.'

Translation: They schedule meetings with no agenda. They make PowerPoint presentations, which in turn makes them think they have done something. Nobody, including Chris, has actually BUILT anything of ANY significance or value: PERIOD. They have BURNED cash and have CANCELED projects that have spanned YEARS with ZERO direction or RESULTS.

* 'That fits right in with Laping's other title; in addition to his role as CIO, which he has held since 2007, Laping also serves as senior vice president of business transformation helping to execute CEO Stephen Carley's vision for a revitalized company.'

Translation: Chris likes to talk a lot. Mostly about himself. He often throws out catchy keyword and phrases that may or may not relate to IT, which makes him sound intelligent. To anyone with ACTUAL experience in IT can immediately identify that this guy is full of crap. However, the executives eat it up because it makes them feel all warm and fuzzy and important.

* 'Fighting the perception of CIOs as either service providers to the business or, at best, technologists who use IT to help the business achieve its goals, Laping sees the position as an opportunity to create new strategies and run with them. "I think CIOs have a great opportunity to orient themselves to being change agents and driving change," he told CIO Journal. "We are the ones in the middle of just about everything going on."'

Translation: "I don't actually know WTF I'm doing, particularly when it comes to building anything of value within IT. So, instead, I've manipulated the executives into thinking I come up with business strategies that are actually never implemented. It's awesome because I don't actually have to do a damn thing, get paid lots of money, and I get to have a title I made up for myself!!"

* 'So far, the change seems to be working. Monday, the casual dining restaurant chain reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings of 24 cents per share. The company reported year-over-year improvement in guest counts, gains in restaurant revenues and expanding operating margins. The company is investing in technology to help support its growth as it opens more restaurants in 2013.'

Translation: We got shorted a little more than we usually get shorted every quarter. Our stock has always been a pump-and-dump investment. We'd like to take this opportunity to pretend our Powerpoint presentation for the quarter (yes, only one) made all the difference.

* 'When Laping became CIO in 2007, he built a team dedicated to solving problems. "We should be turning change on, not turning the lights on to an IT system," he said. Laping says that mindset of solving problems became his team's entrée into expanding their role in the company. That success "got us the permission slip to have the conversations about driving the business as much as marketing and operations would," he said.'

Translation: When Laping became CIO in 2007, he built a team dedicated to scheduling meetings with no agenda and making PowerPoint presentations. By 2008, one of his own "team" members got fired by Chris. An architect came in, then subsequently quit. Then another architect came in, and subsequently got fired by Chris. Then another architect came in, but didn't actually do anything, and then left. Then, more "team" members that Chris "built" quit or got fired by Chris. Do you see a pattern here? Oh, and he burned through his budget that first year, too, so he fired employees that had been there, who held a lot of valuable business knowledge, as well as their own ideas on how to make IT better. "We should be turning change on" translates to "We should talk a lot about invaluable crap, and mostly about ourselves, with a mirror of front of us". "Not turning the lights on to an IT system" translates to "we don't have the capability to actually build anything, because we have no experience or motivation". "Got us the permission slip to have the conversations about driving the business as much as marketing and operations would" translates to "got us the permission slip to do nothing of value and get away with it".

* 'Laping says that other CIOs will often say to him that they're not empowered to create change. That's not the way it works, he says. "When opportunity doesn't knock, you've got to build a door," he said. That involves finding an unmet need in the organization and stepping in to fulfill that need. "That's what we have done at Red Robin and that became a business transformation opportunity."'

Translation: "When opportunity doesn't knock, you've got to build a door" translates to "I just said something I think sounds cool, and makes stupid people's eyes glaze over. They think I'm amazing just because I think I'm amazing. Then I go to Starbucks and buy the most expensive coffee and sit there with it so I look even more cool. Oh, I have a Mac turned on, and open, but don't actually do anything with it. I am the coolest and most amazing person on TEH PLANET!!1".

* 'When Stephen Carley became CEO of Red Robin in 2010 with a mission to reinvigorate the restaurant chain, Laping was in the right place to help the new CEO affect change at the company. In 2011, he took the VP of business transformation title, but decided to keep the title of CIO. "I wanted to signal to the marketplace and to the people I work with that this is what CIOs do," he said.'

Translation: "I wanted to signal to the marketplace and to the people I work with that this is what manipulative liars, who fear every day about their job and high income and spending lifestyle do, in order to maintain the happiness of my gigantic ego".

* 'As the company changes the menu, introduces a new restaurant concept and tries to enhance guest experience and transform the brand, Laping is working to support those efforts. Right now he's working on how to enhance customer experiences by refining how Red Robin hires and trains restaurant associates. Laping says he admires how Starbucks effectively hires and trains baristas to deliver the brand experience.'

Translation: "I am trying to intercept what other people are doing and then pretend I'm involved once I manipulate them into thinking I can help. This way I can keep my job. I like Starbucks because it makes me feel cool and it's way easier to reference them than to actually say anything truthfully valuable".

* 'To do something similar at Red Robin, the company is rolling out 1,000 iPads to its restaurants to deliver a new interactive training program. It's designed to be a social learning experience. If an associate can come up with a better way of doing something, Red Robin will record video of that associate's new method and push it out to all the other restaurants.'

Translation: The comment posted by "hmm" nailed this.

* '"When you look at the data, it clearly shows that CIOs don't become CEO's," he said. "But the number one characteristic of someone who makes a great CEO is someone who can manage change really well."'

Translation: "When you look at the data, I really want to be the CEO, because the person who already brings absolutely no value to a corporation should absolutely be leading it".

* 'Which would lead one to believe VP of business transformation isn't the last title change Laping is gunning for.'

Translation: Make Chris the CEO and see what happens! I can't wait for this entertaining and costly debacle!

4:06 pm November 6, 2012

Brad Weydert wrote:

Congrats Chris!

Chris, Congrats on your success at Red Robin! It takes real leadership and guts to stick your neck out and be an agent of change. You made a bold move to Cross the Line, to move from on side to the other and to pass over mediocrity. Obviously there are some who like the status quo and prefer to be naysayers.
Good luck on the transition. I am confident that your decision will turn out to be one of the greatest decisions for Red Robin in the long run. Stay positive and keep moving and keep fighting. The results will be there.

12:06 pm November 7, 2012

The Truth wrote:

Anonymous: very well formulated commentary, and extremely accurate. Many do not hate Chris outright. Many wished his "ideas" would have come to fruition, but, due to the lack of leadership, direction and experience on Chris's part, they did not; and never will. You are right, it is emotionally frustrating to hear about "change", think you are going to be part of it and then see nothing happen as a result.

"There is no conflict of interests among men who do not desire the unearned, who do not make sacrifices nor accept them, who deal with one another as traders, giving value for value."

Some may not agree with the philosophy behind this quote, but it rings in my ears whenever I hear "positive news" about Chris. The same can be said for any invaluable bureaucracy/bureaucrat. Apply this in general and it's no wonder why businesses find themselves in major financial trouble these days...and it's overall affect on the economy.

I would normally read this article, laugh (which I have, a lot), and move on, but the commentary on this article is an opportunity for Chris to learn something (especially if he stops talking about himself for a few minutes). But we all know that isn't going to happen.

3:11 pm November 8, 2012

Anonymous wrote:

My comment got deleted and so did 3 others. None of them violated the terms of service. Looks like someone is attempting to do damage control.

11:45 am November 12, 2012

Paul D. wrote:

"When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical." --Winston Churchill

12:05 pm November 19, 2012

B-Smalls wrote:

Truth- you certainly seem to have an insiders perspective on Chris, not asking you to reveal your true indentity but, can you shed some light on how you have come your conclusions on Chris and his work (or lack thereof)?

You can't handle THE TRUTH.....

9:26 pm January 6, 2013

VoiceOfExperience wrote:

This is a bit rich. As a previous Laping underling, he does have some good points. But those good points just get badly hammered by the onslaught of bad points. He obviously has aspirations of moving up the ladder, yet he was a very weak CIO and needed a lot of growth before really filling those shoes. His planning was overly directed by the llife-coaches he hired, and he would get enraptured by the latest book or public speaker and foist it as required material upon his department. His expenses were heavily directed to close acquaintances in consulting work. He was a poor manager of his managers. On any project the priorities were #1: what it would be named and a distinctive powerpoint slide, #2: how many consultants it would require, #3: people moving frantically, #4: what was the project again?, #5 repeat. His vision was colorful, but too fuzzy to act upon. I do understand we each only get one life and a person should ethically look out for themselves, and then the company, but Chris looked out for himself, and then himself again, and then himself a few more times before then checking if his friends needed anything, and then himself again. Oh yeah, and then Red Robin. It made it near impossible to plan and accomplish a long term course benefiting RR when more of Laping's friends needed jobs as Business Analysts or manager friends needed positions. He does make a mean power point slide, and he does a good job of pleasing upper managers with those magical slide decks. He truly missed a great career as a middle manager in a marketing/advertising/graphics company. However, in IT he has a lot of wisdom to gain and projects to complete without friends holding his hands to earn that title. Full Disclosure: Brad W. (commenter below) is not entirely objective as the owner of the principal supplier of consultants to Laping/RR. He must hire the same life coach who encourages him to "cross the line" - whatever that means.

2:46 pm March 24, 2013

The Truth wrote:

Paul D: the point of my post was not to criticize. The point was to lay out a melodramatic representation of the falsities of this article. This is a public venue. Many who read this may end up speaking, or become involved, with Chris in some way. This is a chance to lift the curtain and give them insight to a perspective unseen. Chris (and friends) may choose to read it as criticism, but it is they who may choose to accept or deny any perceived critique as they wish.

B-Smalls: You are right. I cannot handle the truth. Thanks for the laugh.

VoiceOfExperience: Wholeheartedly agreed.

Add a Comment

Error message

Name

We welcome thoughtful comments from readers. Please comply with our guidelines. Our blogs do not require the use of your real name.